


Strangers on a Train

by SzonKlin



Category: The Halcyon (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-06-06 11:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15193784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SzonKlin/pseuds/SzonKlin
Summary: When Adil moves to London, nothing seems to work out for him, until he notices a handsome stranger on the underground.





	1. Chapter 1

Adil was running.

He thought about how ridiculous he was to so rudely dismiss his mother after lunch for a complete stranger, but when he noticed the time as he was leaving his apartment and realized that he was probably going to miss his train, he stopped thinking about the absurdity of the situation and just ran.

Adil heard the train pulling out of the underground station as he was descending the last of the stairs. He deflated for a second before he noticed a lone stationary figure in the sea of people hurrying towards the exit. It was him.

The Mystery Man was standing by the arrivals board and from his stance it was obvious that he has been there for a while, deliberately missing the train. He appeared fully engrossed in his phone, but after a few seconds he glanced around the station. His eyes stilled on Adil for a second and a small smile appeared on his face. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing Adil ever saw, especially since he could be quite sure that the smile was meant for him.

Adil thought about going up to him, but after the short look, the Mystery Man turned his attention back to the phone and though the smile remained on his face, he gave no indication that he wanted to change their routine.

So, they waited a few yards apart and they both got on the next train, sitting down at exactly the right distance to still see each other without obviously staring. Until today, Adil thought he was the only one who noticed the other man, and his heart fluttered at the realization that their strange connection was not one-sided.

He couldn’t quite remember when he first realized that they take the same route every day. He only remembered the day when he noticed that the Mystery Man was in the next carriage and he realized that he had come to expect the handsome stranger to be there when Adil was on his way to work.

That’s when he named him the Mystery Man and started to watch him, always careful not to be obvious or disturbing. The Mystery Man must have worked in one of the offices near Paddington and lived somewhere around the Embankment station. Adil knew he wasn’t switching trains because one day he chanced being late and followed the man out of the station and saw him walk towards the Whitehall Gardens. But before he could follow him further he realized that he was becoming a stalker and headed to work instead.

He learnt other things as well. Things that might seem small and unimportant, but still made Adil feel like he knew the Mystery Man. How he always scanned the carriage as it arrived and headed straight for a seat whenever he could find a free one, but he would always give it up to anyone who might need it more. That he would strain his ear to listen any time people talked in another language. That he always smiled and waved at kids traveling close to him. Proofs that while he appeared to be in a bubble of his own, like most people on the tube, listening to music and looking at his phone, he was actually very conscious of his surroundings.

Adil worked at a bar called Cheers, frequented by obnoxious and entitled people who believed that the bartenders, especially the barmaids, were there to do anything the customers fancied. Unfortunately, the owners of the bar agreed with that, but Adil needed the money and this job at least paid well. Still, the only good part of his workdays were those 20 minutes he spent on the train with Mystery Man.

And now Adil knew that it mattered to the other man enough to miss a train. Adil decided that the next time he had a chance, he would talk to him. Because he realized just then, which filled him with trepidation, he was falling for the handsome stranger.

*****

Toby clearly remembered the day he first saw the Angel on the tube. He seemed terribly out of place, obviously unused to the chaos that was the London Underground. His eyes kept switching between his phone, the list of stops and the signs on the stations whenever they pulled into one. He stood too close to the doors and got into everyone’s way. As soon as they pulled out of Westminster, he shuffled to the door and was the first off at Paddington, but by the time Toby left the carriage, he was still standing on the platform, looking round at the exits. Toby contemplated going up to him to ask if he can help, but by the time he stuck up the courage to do it, the Angel picked a direction and started to walk with surprising purpose.

He almost forgot about the man, but the next morning he woke up having dreamt of him. He shrugged it off, chalking it up to loneliness as he was reluctant to have any serious connection with someone since he was back in London, under the watchful and disapproving eye of his father. But the Angel kept turning up in his dreams for the next two weeks, until he turned up in reality on the tube one afternoon, and, from that day on, every Tuesday to Friday.

Watching him had become a game for Toby. He watched as the man became more and more familiar with his route, watching the stops less and less. He watched him figure out the best spots to stand in not to be in the way of others, but almost never sitting down. He tried to figure out what the various pins were symbolizing on his bag, and he couldn’t stop grinning for the entire day after he noticed a rainbow coloured one in June and wished he could put on a matching one. But between his job at a legal firm and the almost religiously held 5 o’clock tea with his parents he didn’t dare to do it.

It was three months into him watching the Angel that he started to suspect the Angel was also watching him. He ached to start a conversation with him, but he also knew that while the other man might find the coincidence that they commute together amusing, once he got to know Toby, the Angel would probably be disappointed. Once he got over the initial awkwardness of being in a strange city (Toby suspected that he had only just moved to London before he showed up on the tube that first time) he turned out to be quite confident. He was also terribly good-looking and had a good sense of humour and a wide range of interests if his pins were anything to go by. He would probably want nothing to do with a guy who still lived with his parents and worked a boring office job.

But despite the certainty that the Angel would want nothing to do with him, Toby still dreamed about a chance to find out.

Toby tried to convince himself that he could not be attracted to someone he didn’t even know. However, when one Friday the Angel wasn’t at the station at their usual time and he decided to risk being late from his mother’s tea and wait to see if the man was simply late instead, he realized that it was useless to deny it. He just prayed that the Angel would make a move because he was sure that if things went on for much longer the way they did, he would do something extremely foolish.


	2. Chapter 2

Adil was determined to talk to the Mystery Man the next time they met on the tube.

But that next time never came.

Adil prepared excitedly for the following Tuesday. He put on his best shirt, spent more time fussing over his hair than he would have liked to admit, and he made absolutely sure that he arrived on time, so much so, that he arrived two trains earlier.

However, all his preparations were in vain. When the Mystery Man didn’t show, he waited an extra ten minutes, making him late for work and earning him a severe dressing down from his boss in front of the costumers. To make matters worse, he was so preoccupied, thinking about what could have happened to the stranger, that he kept messing up the orders, gaining him even more reprimands.

For the next three days Adil always went to the station ten minutes early, though he didn’t dare to be late from work again and on the following Monday, which was his day of, he spent the better part of his afternoon there.

When after a week of waiting the Mystery Man was still nowhere, Adil decided that he couldn’t spend his time pining over someone he never talked to. He hoped that the stranger was only sick, though this hope made him feel slightly guilty, and he didn’t move or change jobs, and though he kept his eyes peeled every afternoon on his way to work, he knew he couldn’t waste his time and energies anymore.

Especially when he didn’t have that much time or energy to spare for his everyday activities. With the summer the crowds at the bar grew bigger each week, making his bosses even more demanding and insufferable. It also surprised Adil how much a difference it made that his workday didn’t start with the Mystery Man. Even if their twenty minutes were fairly uneventful, it gave him something to look forward to and a little boost for the day.

But with the stranger’s disappearance and his whole family spending the summer in India, the days turned into a never-ending blur of obnoxious customers, unbearable bosses and sticky, smog-filled heat.

By August Adil got completely fed up. He moved to London hoping that he could find communities where he could live both parts of his identity as a Hindu gay man, as well as better job opportunities and maybe a chance to have his own bar someday. In contrast he ended up lonely, in a horrid job and with his dreams crushed. So, when one day his boss told him off for not being more “accommodating” with an overly familiar customer, he snapped and just quit.

He tried for six months, he really did. But it seemed like fate didn’t want him in London. Moving back to Oxford to his family seemed less and less like admitting defeat and more like the only available step for him. He decided to give another month for his city-life while he works out his notice, but unless a miracle happens, he will move back afterwards.

*****

Toby knew something was wrong as soon as he walked into the lounge of the Halcyon. Years of bitter experience taught him to recognize when his parents have had a fight. He almost regretted missing his train, but he also knew that even if he was on time, his father would have found a way to direct his anger at him.

“Kind of you to grace us with your presence” Mr. Hamilton sneered as soon as his son was in his line of sight.

“I’m only a few minutes late” Toby countered, even though he was aware that it was foolish of him to taunt his father when he was angry. To make up for it, he turned to kiss his mother. “I’m sorry for being late, Mother. I missed the tube”

“Yes, of course. The tube.” When Mr. Hamilton started telling off Toby, there was no stopping him – not that anyone ever even tried. “Maybe if you had a proper job, you could have a car and be on time. But I imagine you expect us to give you a car as well, just like we give you everything else, since your pathetic little job does not even pay you properly. All your mother asks in return for all she does for you is that you join her for tea in the afternoon, but even that seems beyond you.”

Toby thought about pointing out that he used public transport out of principle, that he would have happily lived on his own had his parents not ordered him to stay at the hotel, that he hasn’t been late for tea in months, or any of the other inaccuracies in his father’s speech. But Mr. Hamilton’s words wounded him, and he was in no mind to have the same argument again that they had every time his father found something to shout at him about. He was silently hoping that maybe this time his mother or brother would step in, but as usual, they just sat there quietly, avoiding looking at them.

But he couldn’t stay quiet for long. His father’s beliefs angered him, and he hated when he was uncontested. He knew he should have been able to keep his tongue, or at least not be surprised at his father’s reactions, but he couldn’t help himself.

“I’m sorry that I’m such a disappointment” Toby said, though he didn’t sound sorry at all. “It must be really hard to have a son who is working against everything you believe in, advocating for human rights…” Toby trailed off as Mr. Hamilton jumped up.

For a moment Toby believed that he had finally managed to say something his father will hit him for, but a hiss from Mrs. Hamilton reminded them that they were in public and that people were beginning to watch them. Instead, Mr. Hamilton only said “When you decide to do something useful with your pathetic little life, then you can criticise me: and not before” then he stormed out of the lounge.

The next time Toby saw his father, Mr. Hamilton was dead. The coroner said it was a heart attack and that Mr. Hamilton must have been under a lot of stress. Toby supposed he should have felt guilty, being the one who made him mad that last time, but all he felt was a sense of relief and a perverse sense of accomplishment at having successfully avoided ever being hit by his father.

“Maybe we could take some leave from work for a while” Freddie suggested the next evening, as they were sitting with Toby at the bar. Mrs. Hamilton hasn’t left her room since she saw the paramedics out. “I know we weren’t much of a family so far, but if we ever want to change that, I think now is our only chance”

Toby just hummed. He wasn’t sure he wanted to put much energy into bonding with his mother and brother, who never paid much attention to his struggles before.

“Did you know, that mother was going to leave father?” Freddie asked. “She has been looking at houses in York. She told father about it yesterday. I think she might still move there. I suppose she feels guilty, as if her leaving father would have pushed him over the edge. When in fact it might have been any of us. I was with him not half an hour before he died. Emma told me that he had refused a new head-receptionist for being Jewish”

“I also heard from Feldman that he his latest mistress has made a scene in the lobby yesterday” Toby added.

“He had a busy day. I guess his parting gift to us was that he gave us all a reason to feel guilty for his death”

Toby didn’t answer, and the brothers sat in silence for the remainder of the evening, contemplating the fact that neither of them had been really sorry for their father’s death.

On Sunday the Hamiltons had breakfast together and after both boys expressed that they were willing to take a month from work so the three of them can spend some time together and Mrs. Hamilton also agreed to put of moving to York for that time.

On Monday morning Toby went in to work to arrange the terms of his leave and only when he was on his way back in the early afternoon did he realize that if he didn’t work for a month, at least not his regular hours, then he wouldn’t see the Angel.

He thought about the last time they travelled together. How he hoped that if the Angel realized he had been waiting for him, he might have approached him and how, when the Angel didn’t break their pattern, he decided that the next time they meet, he would make the next step. Hard to believe that it happened only three days ago. He contemplated catching their train on Tuesday, just to meet, but he quickly dissuaded himself.

He was never good at picking up strangers, but even he knew that telling someone that his father just died and that he was happy about it, wasn’t the best opening line.

So instead he decided to honour his agreement with his mother and brother and concentrate on building something resembling a family out of the ruins Mr. Hamilton left behind. He could only hope, that if he had any chance with the Angel now, it wouldn’t disappear by September.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your lovely comments on the first chapter, I have decided to continue this story. I expect to have 2 or 3 more chapters, updating about once a week.


	3. Chapter 3

If you asked Adil what his best quality was, he would have said it’s his tenacity. He worked hard to get the necessary education to manage a bar and to save enough money so that he could move to London without having to ask his parents for money, then he worked hard to fulfill his dreams once in London. But he started to think that hard work didn’t really account for all that much and he realized that without luck on his side, he wasn’t going to make it.

After all that hard work, Adil desperately wanted to just give up. But he promised a month to himself and so, for another month he was going to continue to try.

In the mornings, he regularly scanned the newspapers and various sites, and on his off days he walked around the town, submitting his resume in person at several bars and restaurants.

He also made sure to take the 4:30 tube from Paddington every weekday. As the weeks dragged on, it seemed more and more likely that the Mystery Man has moved, but he still held on to hope that he might catch him. One Monday Adil caught a glimpse of him, but by the time he got to the platform, the doors have already closed. He saw the Mystery Man take the first available seat as usual and when he looked up, they locked eyes. The Mystery Man smiled and waved at Adil timidly, but the train pulled out of the station before Adil could have returned the greeting.

Adil stared after the train. He wasn’t sure what to think. So, the Mystery Man most likely didn’t move, and he still seemed happy to see Adil. But Adil couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t come to their train then. He knew that he shouldn’t have put all the weight of his failure in London on some stranger, but he still felt that somehow the other man’s disappearance was the first step in the loss of his dreams.

As September drew nearer, Adil started to give up. He still applied for a few jobs every week, but after he told his parents that he was moving back and started to really accept it, he became pickier. In the beginning he sent his resume to just about any place that was hiring, and went on many interviews, but as he only got called back from places that didn’t seem that much better than Cheers, he was slowly getting discouraged. So, by the end of August, he would only apply to jobs at the best of places.

Just as he was about to give up completely, he got a call from one of the hotels he had already given up on.

Adil felt like he stepped into another world when he walked through the entrance of the Halcyon. The art deco styled interior seemed to softly dance to the sounds of a jazz band’s practice coming from another room. He was greeted by a jovial man in perfectly tailored, dark green livery, who walked him over to the grand doors with the word ‘Lounge’ written on them in ornate letters.

He barely had time to take in the lounge before a young woman in a vintage dress suit approached him. She introduced herself as Emma Garland and led him to the bar where she and an elderly but sharp-looking man in a blindingly white jacket interviewed him. It was nothing like the interviews Adil had been on in the past month. Adil was asked to prepare a few cocktails as well as questions about the history of the drinks as usual, but mostly it was just like a friendly conversation about Adil’s dream bar and his thoughts on Interwar Britain.

Adil knew that the job and the place were too good to be true, but it still gave him something to work towards. He knew that if he gained some more work experience and if he brushed up on his knowledge of cultural history, which was the part he knew he completely failed, in a few years he could work in a place like this.

So, he was taken completely by surprise when two days later, on his last week at his old job, he got a call from the Halcyon, letting him know that the position was his.

From then on, life became a whirlwind. He had already given his notice to his landlady and had to go looking for a new place to stay. On his last week, it wasn’t only just his bosses anymore who were unbearable, but even his colleagues became more distant towards him, making those five days hell on earth to Adil.

Luckily, he had a week off between finishing at Cheers and starting at the Halcyon, giving him the first chance in months to visit his family in Oxford. While it was nice to spend some time with his family, it also made him even more grateful for the new job. He loved his parents and four younger siblings but living in a house with six other people ground at his nerves. He enjoyed the clamour of bars, the constant busyness, the sounds of music mixing with the clinking of glasses and talk and laughter, but he needed a quiet place where he could withdraw to when the work was over.

There was also his family’s attitude towards his sexuality. Adil knew he shouldn’t complain, others had it much worse and he was lucky that his parents and community didn’t look at his preference as if it was a sin, but it was really frustrating, that they didn’t really take him seriously. Aside from his oldest sister, they all expected him to eventually settle down with a nice girl.

His parents were old fashioned in their ideas of love and marriage. To them it wasn’t important to be in love in order to get married. What mattered to them were the shared ideas of life and family as well as mutual respect. The rest would come once the couple married. But that didn’t fit Adil’s expectations. He wanted to be in love.

As he pondered this on the train back to London, his thoughts drifted to the Mystery Man. He let himself imagine what it would have been like if they got a chance to know each other. Adil felt that if he already managed to develop a crush on the man just by looking at him, he could have had the love he dreamt about if they actually talked.

But now that chance was gone. With moving to new place south of the Thames and starting a job with less regular work hours, he wasn’t going to see the Mystery Man ever again. However, that thought didn’t really bother him anymore. If it really was a sign that they met on the tube, then it must be a sign that they didn’t anymore as well. Maybe it was the universe’s way of showing him that there was still a reason for him to stay in London, and then to show that it was time for him to move on from his old situation. And having secured a dream job, he started to be hopeful that other things would improve as well. If he wasn’t working every night, he might have a chance to go out and if the job didn’t drain all his energies, then he might even have the will to do it. He could find friends and one day even love.

He tried to remind himself as he got off the train that he shouldn’t expect too much too soon, but it was hard to stop himself from hoping as he made his way to his new flat in the balmy autumn weather.

*****

Toby was slightly hurt by how easy it was to get the time off from work, even if he knew that the workload was always easier in the summer months. Due to most of the lawmakers, judges and opposing lawyers going on vacations, most of their work was preparing for the trials in the autumn and his office didn’t really mind if he was doing that from home, on his own schedule. There were a few meetings each week that he still had to attend, but he did most of his work in the afternoons in the manager’s office of the Halcyon.

The month of rebuilding their family went better than expected. Though there was an initial awkwardness in the first week, soon they realized that they didn’t have to force everything to be perfect all at once.

By the end of the first week, they found a balance between spending too much and too little time together. And even if the boys took time from their work, they all still had their own business to attend to. Mrs. Hamilton started seeing a psychologist and decided to get more involved in a few charitable organizations that she was only part of in name before. Freddie resigned from his job and started to learn into running the hotel and Toby had some work he wasn’t willing to abandon for a month. Almost every afternoon they sat together in the new manager’s office of the hotel, each of them working on their own tasks in a comfortable silence, occasionally interrupted by random thoughts and questions with no fear of being reprimanded for speaking nonsense.

On some evenings and on the weekends, they took turns organizing programs for each other, to show off their interests and really get to know each other. Like everything else they did that month, it also started out stiffly, after all it is not that common for someone to first get to know to their families after 25 years, but in time they began to truly enjoy it. By the end of August, they agreed to keep the tradition going, spending at least one weekend this way.

In the end Toby was glad that he took the time for this and for the first time ever he felt like he had a chance to have a family. He had several long talks with his mother and brother which made him recognize the full effects of Mr. Hamilton’s abuse. He successfully divided all three of them so they all felt that standing up for the other would make things even worse. But now that he was gone, they were finally able to start to work past it.

When September came, Toby was glad to go back to work though. His greatest act of defiance was that he worked at a law firm that advocated for the rights of less privileged groups, groups that his father looked down on or even exploited in his businesses. And just because his father was dead, he wasn’t going to stop.

He also felt quite excited about the prospect of traveling with the Angel again. During his month off, he saw him once as his tube was pulling out of the station and he even waved at the other man but got no response. Even so, he was determined to ask the Angel out that day. He never even considered, that he wouldn’t show.

It was only when he got home that he remembered that the Angel wasn’t taking that ride on Mondays. However, his hope was short-lived, as he was alone on the remaining days of the week as well. Toby was surprised at the anger he felt at his father about it. He avoided the Angel because he was afraid of his father’s reaction to him having a boyfriend and then he didn’t want to start dating so soon after his death, and now the Angel was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

“So, you are the one who is going to replace good old Mr. Bryson” Adil heard from behind his back.

“Nothing’s set in stone yet” he answered without turning, continuing to focus on his task. It was only his third day and the first time he was left alone to work so he didn’t want to lose track of the inventory of the bar and he was almost done anyway. It was still surprising to Adil how friendly everyone has been. In Cheers, many didn’t even bother to learn your name and here people seemed to go out of their way to get to know him, even knowing that he was on his trial period, meaning he could decide to leave any time.

He finished in a minute, stood up and turned around to whoever was talking to him, and he almost dropped the inventory sheet.

Leaning to the staff door, there stood the Mystery Man, grinning. “Hi” he said.

“Hi” Adil answered, looking over the man in front of him. When the first shock of seeing him above ground, and at his new workplace no less, wore off he noticed that he wasn’t wearing any uniform. “This area is for staff only” Adil squeaked out. ‘Real smooth’ he scolded himself.

“And family” the Mystery Man added. “I’m Toby Hamilton. Nice to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. Joshi”

“Happy to meet you, Mr. Hamilton” the world was spinning around Adil. He should have known that this job was too perfect, he should have expected a catch. It was a cruel twist of fate that the man he has been dreaming about for the last half year was now his boss.

“It’s Toby. And you are Adil, right?” the Mystery Man continued, oblivious of the issue with their relative position.

“Is the inventory done? Was everything in order?” Mr. Bryson asked from the other end of the bar. “Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Toby” he added as he noticed him standing by the door. “Did you need something?”

“Just being friendly. See you after dinner” he said to no one in particular and stalked off towards the corridor.

The next few hours were a blur. Even when Adil went on a break to try to convince his heart not to be happy for the Mystery Man, he had no chance to think, because Tom, another barman, decided to accompany him.

“I saw you met Toby” he said.

Adil only replied with a noncommittal grunt.

“He is the friendliest from the Family. He used to spend a little too much time in the bar but it has gotten better since his old man kicked it. But he was always respectful, and even when he is super wasted.”

Tom went on gossiping, and his words did little to help Adil with stopping himself from crushing on the Mystery Man. ‘Toby’ he corrected himself. ‘I need to stop thinking of him as the Mystery Man.’

In the evening, Adil was on bar duty. He was looking forward to this part of his job. He was hired as assistant bar manager for six months, at the end of which he had the chance to become the bar manager, replacing the then-retiring Mr. Bryce. It meant that he would have a lot of administrative work, but he would still get to work at the bar on the busy weekend nights. Only that day it meant that he was at the bar when Toby came over to order.

“Mr. Hamilton, what can I get you?”

“Please call me Toby. Everyone else does. And surprise me with the drink.”

Adil’s professional desire to amaze his clientele battled with his need to extinguish the other man’s interest in him. He decided to go with a simple gin tonic, but then couldn’t resist adding a little surprise ingredient.

He could feel Toby’s eyes on himself as he was working on the cocktail, so he made sure to shield the shaker as he added the surprise. When he handed over the glass, Toby placed his hand over Adil’s and stared at him with a look that made Adil feel naked and unable to remember why he wasn’t supposed to flirt with the man in front of him. But before he could do anything, Toby just said “Thanks. My room is 608” and walked away from the bar.

It took Adil a moment before he realized that he was told the room number so he would know where to charge the drink.

***

Later that night, in his room Toby wondered where he got the courage to flirt so boldly.

When he went down to the bar to meet the new barman Emma told him about, he was completely unprepared to meet the Angel there.  For the first time in his life though, shock didn’t make him freeze but without a chance to overthink, he was surprisingly confident.

Normally he would have felt extremely embarrassed after such display of confidence, but Adil’s reaction, the way his eyes widened, his breath hitched, or his voice wavered were all proof that he didn’t find Toby’s confidence all that unfounded.

They were interrupted before Toby could ask him out and he didn’t have a chance during the busy Friday afternoon either but as he lay in his bed he was more than hopeful that they would soon get their shot.

So, he was very much surprised when during the following days Adil seemed to be avoiding him and when he couldn’t avoid Toby, he acted way too coldly, as if someone warned him against Toby.

Next Saturday he decided to investigate and so he went down to the staff’s breakroom to catch Tom. Instead he found the entire band as well as Adil himself in the room, excitedly typing away on his phone and grinning at it.

“Good news?” Toby asked, smiling at the scene in front of him. Adil was beautiful, and Toby wished he could make the man happy like that.

“My sister is having a baby” Adil announced.

Betsey leapt from her position on the couch, grabbed Adil’s hand and twirled him around. Sonny played a celebratory tune on his trumpet and all the members of the band congratulated Adil with hugs before they left the room to set up on the stage.

Betsey turned him around once more before she waltzed out as well, leaving behind a laughing and slightly breathless Adil. Once they were alone Toby moved forward for a half-hug but Adil had other ideas and pressed his lips against Toby’s.

All thoughts left Toby as he gave himself over to the kiss. He pressed his body against Adil’s and moved his hands to Adil’s face and arm. But when his tongue prodded at the other man’s lips, Adil jumped away.

“I’m sorry” he stuttered. “I shouldn’t have…” and before Toby had a chance to say or do anything, he bolted from the room.

Adil kept busy to avoid Toby on Saturday and wasn’t working on Sunday, but Toby made it a point to catch him on Monday. Toby could see the moment Adil noticed him by the staff entrance as he was arriving to work, because he halted for a second before averting his gaze and walking deliberately towards the door.

“Hi Adil” Toby greeted the other when he was still a few feet away.

“Mr. Hamilton” Adil answered without slowing down.

“Please, can I have a word?” Toby asked, but he stepped out of the way, not to stop Adil if he didn’t want to.

“There’s something I need to say to you as well” Adil answered. “I’m sorry I lost control two days ago. I shouldn’t have… khm kissed you”

“But why not? We had something, didn’t we?” Toby sounded almost begging, but if there was any chance, he wasn’t going to let this go. Not if this was just a misunderstanding. “I didn’t just imagine…We did notice each other on the tube among thousands of others and that kiss, it was special, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but you are my boss!” Toby was shocked by how desperate Adil sounded and for a horrible second it reminded him of some of the girls he defended in court who were forced to sleep with their bosses to keep their jobs.

Toby took a step back from Adil to make sure he wasn’t in his place before he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in an uncomfortable situation. I hope you know that you are free to leave this conversation and never to speak to me again and it would have no effect on your position here. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to say something.”

Adil gestured for Toby to go on.

“First things first, I am not you boss in any way. I do not own any shares in this hotel, nor do I have any position in it. As it is, I have no say in any hiring decisions, officially or informally. I know my mother and brother own this hotel and my brother runs it, but I doubt he would appreciate me butting in, and I don’t want to anyway.”

“He is still your brother.”

“Yes, but his decision to run the hotel himself means that he is putting his fiancée’s father out of a job, and he is still going ahead. The man is to become his father-in-law the same year Freddie is retiring him, I doubt that my love life would matter such to him compared to the good of the hotel. And he likes your work ethic and ideas. If I tried to get you fired, he would probably choose you and put me out on the street.

Adil laughed and his posture became more relaxed.

“Look Adil” Toby went on, “I don’t want to _make_ you do anything. But I’m sure there’s a reason we kept meeting and that kiss was probably the best one I had so far, and if your only concern is that you are afraid I only want a fling that would cost you this job, then I really wish you could trust me because I’m really serious about this. And if you want a few days to think it over, or to wait until you are more certain of your position here, I don’t mind waiting. And if you don’t want anything at all, let me know and I’ll never…”

“I do trust you” Adil interrupted. He took a deep breath and stepped up to Toby. “I trust you, Toby” and with that Adil kissed Toby again, but this time it was he who deepened the kiss and neither of them stepped back until Tom arrived and greeted them with a few cheery catcalls and a dramatic “I knew it.”

The three of them went inside and Toby only let go of Adil’s hand when they had to part at the bottom of the stairs.

And when Adil went to Toby’s room after his shift that night, they didn’t let go till the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to add a sort-of epilogue, that maybe takes place a little bit later, but I don't really have any ideas about what to write, or rather I have too many but so far none of them want to turn into a full chapter, so why don't you let me know what you would like to read about?


	5. Two years later

“What is this?” Adil’s voice was uncharacteristically flat as he stared at Toby, not even looking at their surroundings.

“Your new bar?” Toby repeated his earlier statement, but it came out as more of a question.

Adil just kept staring so Toby launched into a nervous ramble. “It is owned by Mr. Harrison. We just wrapped up a big case against him, you know, the one I talked about. He was trying to cut corners everywhere and we were able to prove that he committed the health code violations knowingly, and he broke several labour laws, didn’t pay his employees as contracted, someone got hurt on the job, he fired them and got in the way of them getting properly compensated for it, he fired someone for being gay and didn’t hire God knows how many people out of discrimination. He was harassing the female employees and he was dumb enough to do most of these via email, so we got him on all charges. He will be paying reparations for the rest of his days probably. He might even have to go to prison, though he’ll probably get out of that if he appeals…”

“You told me all of this before. Why are we here?” Adil interrupted. Sometime during the rant his gaze started to wander but he still didn’t move, even his blank expression stayed the same.

“Harrison will have to sell everything he owns to pay all the fines and compensations. He is lucky if he can keep the shirt on his back. This place will be up for sale in a month or so and he’ll have to sell it quick and thus probably cheap. I just thought you could buy it. I could help out. As an investment. And you could buy me out whenever you want. Or not. I know it’s rather run down. And it is mostly students around here, I know it’s not your favourite bar crowd. And you said you like your job at the Halcyon…” Toby trailed off as he realized that Adil wasn’t listening.

At some point the shorter man walked away, looking around the dusty bar. He was touching the stinky bar, eyeing the mismatched stools, inspecting the peeling wallpaper, carefully avoiding a few suspicious-looking splatters on the floor.

“It was stupid,” Toby sighed. “I’m sorry. I wanted to help and got carried away. But you don’t need my help, you can make it, just like you wanted. I’m sorry. I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Toby!” Adil called, just as Toby started to walk out. “It’s perfect,” he says, barely louder than a whisper, but Toby hears anyway.

“You don’t have to say that. It’s okay.”

“I mean it,” Adil insisted as he walks up to Toby, prying Toby’s nervously fidgeting hands apart so he could grab one of them. “Obviously it needs a lot of work, but the layout is great. I need to check the back rooms, but we can put a stage in there, and that space can be separated off so we can offer it for private parties. We can enlarge the windows and with some mirrors over there that space won’t feel so cramped,” Adil explained, finally letting his excitement show as he waved his free hand around to point out the areas he was talking about.

During their two years together, Adil learnt that sometimes Toby’s mind resembled a runaway train, you couldn’t predict where it was headed but, unlike said train, if you managed to hang on, it ended up with the most wonderful results. So when Toby dragged him away from his work, refusing to answer his questions, he just went along with it, and he wasn’t disappointed. The place Toby brought him to was rundown and dirty, but beneath all the dust and grime it was as if it had been designed with Adil’s dream in mind, so much so, that at first he had trouble believing it was real. He tried not to get too excited, but Adil didn’t have to pretend to make Toby feel better.

“Are you sure?” Toby’s voice was still uncertain, but hopeful. “I know it’s not much, and you wanted to make it on your own…”

“I _am_ sure!” Adil interrupted again. “I’m sure,” he repeated, meaning more than just the place. “And I don’t want to make it on my own. At least not completely. I don’t want handouts or charity, but it’s not what it feels like, accepting your help in this.”

Adil looked around the place, raising his hand to stop Toby when the taller man opened his mouth to answer. After a moment, Adil made a decision, took a deep breath and looked Toby in the eyes.

“This isn’t how I imagined this, but here we are anyway, so: it doesn’t feel like you are putting your money into _my_ future. Yes, the bar was my dream, but what I want for my future far more than I ever wanted, is to share it with you. I am not only not minding you being my partner in the bar, but I want you to be. In the bar and in life. It feels like I spent my whole life waiting. Waiting to get out of secondary school, waiting to move away from my parents, waiting for my life to make sense. And I’m not saying that my life is complete, and you are the only thing I want from life, but with you by my side it feels like we are living our lives and building it towards completion. No longer just waiting but doing. And I never want to let that feeling go. I never want to let _you_ go. So,” Adil reached for Toby’s other hand as well, “Toby Hamilton,” Adil took one more deep breath, looked his lover in the eyes, willing all the love he felt to show in his gaze, “will you be my husband? Will you marry me, Toby?”

“Yes!” Toby shouted as soon as the words were out of Adil’s mouth. “Yes, yes, always yes!” Toby laughed, dropping Adil’s hands to pull him as close as he could while still maintaining eye contact. “You showed me a whole new life, a whole new me. You made me believe that I have love in me that is worth giving and I never want to stop giving it to you. I thought having a father like I did I’d never be cut out for family, but you proved to me that I was wrong. And I want it all with you. The home, the kids, the bar, the late nights, the good and the bad, the growing old…” for the third time that night, Adil interrupted Toby, this time with a kiss, chase and slow, just a gentle pressure of their lips.

After a moment, Adil pulled back slightly, still close enough that the warmth of his breath caressed Toby’s lips as he spoke. “I had the whole thing planned, you know. I have reservations for Friday at Toni’s, I have a ring and everything,” Adil laughed. “But you were just so adorable, and I love you so much that I couldn’t wait any longer.”

Adil’s laughter was swallowed by Toby in a kiss much more urgent than the previous one. Toby’s hand slowly travelled up on Adil’s back towards his jaw, holding Adil in place as if there was any danger of him moving away. The shorter man mirrored his lover, raising his hand to Toby’s neck to pull his head lower for easier access, while Adil’s other hand splayed over Toby’s butt, pressing their whole bodies as close as they could.

Adil threw his head back when Toby’s leg slipped between his. He opened his mouth to speak but he had difficulty finding his voice as Toby started kissing over his neck. “Toby,” Adil managed to get out.

“Hmmmm?” Toby’s murmur against Adil’s neck sent shivers down Adi’s spine.

“Toby,” Adil repeated, moving his hands to Toby’s chest to push him away. The little space between them finally helped Ail remember how to form words. “As much as I like this place,” he started, pushing Toby a bit more firmly away when he felt him try to move closer, “do you want to get out of here? Come over to mine?”

“I can be convinced,” Toby teased, managing to steal another kiss. “But let’s swing by the Halcyon first, I have to grab my work bag for tomorrow,” he asked.

As they detangled from each other and walked out of their future bar to celebrate their future life, Toby’s mind kept drifting to a little velvet box, hidden from Adil at the bottom of Toby’s bag, ever since he found out about the ‘surprise’ date Adil planned for Friday. Adil might have been the first to ask, but Toby wouldn’t stay too far behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This little scene just jumped into my mind this morning and I decided to turn it into a part of this story. I threw it together pretty quick but I missed posting so I didn't want to sit on it any longer. I know it's not my best work, so please go gently on me. Let me know what you think!
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> Unrelated author's note: I am working on something for the boys, but I want it completed before I start posting. It's going to be pretty unique both in story and format compared to other works in the fandom, but I hope you'll like it. Teaser: the idea came to me as I was trying to think of carriers for Adil other than bartending.
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> Find me on [tumblr](szonklin.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by this post: http://szonklin.tumblr.com/post/175599296769/candiikismet-positive-memes-just-two-friends


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